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Ticker Mortgage rates continue climb; Applications jump for jobless aid

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:50 GMT

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate rose for the fifth straight week to its highest level since breaching 7% in November, just as the spring buying season gets ready to kick off.Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average on the benchmark 30-year rate climbed to 6.73% from 6.65% last week. The average rate a year ago was 3.85%.The average long-term rate hit 7.08% in the fall — a two-decade high — as the Federal Reserve continued to raise its key lending rate in a bid to cool the economy and quash persistent, four-decade high inflation.At its first meeting of 2023 in February, the Fed raised its benchmark lending rate by another 25 basis points, its eighth increase in less than a year. That pushed the central bank’s key rate to a range of 4.5% to 4.75%, its highest level in 15 years. Many economists expect at least three more increases before the end of the year.Sales of existing homes have fallen for 12 straight months to the slowest pace in more than a ...

The cherry blossoms are back in Balboa Park. Here's how to enjoy them

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:50 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- As spring sets in, one of San Diego's most beloved Balboa Park traditions is back: the Japanese Friendship Garden's annual Cherry Blossom Festival.Rooted in the Japanese tradition of hanami, or flower viewing, the time to enjoy the garden's beautiful and ephemeral blossoms is this weekend only. Here’s how to enjoy this season’s wildflower bloom in San Diego The garden will be open Friday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Last admission will be at 5 p.m.While visitors can stroll the upper and lower gardens, a variety of performances and fun activities will be hosted by the Friendship Garden, including a children's area in the lower garden with games. Guests can also browse and ship from over 25 different food and merchant vendors throughout the garden and for guests 21 and over, the beer and sake will be offered in the Inamori Pavilion.Tickets can be purchased online. General admission is $14, while VIP tickets for guests looking for a shorter wait time to enter, ...

Los Angeles police ID gunman in shooting of 3 officers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:50 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles police on Thursday identified the suspect who allegedly shot and wounded three officers as a 32-year-old wanted parolee who was found dead hours after the standoff.The officers, all senior officers and members of a Los Angeles Police Department K-9 dog-handling unit, remained hospitalized in stable condition after Wednesday night’s shooting in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood near downtown.The gunman was identified as Jonathan Magana. The coroner’s office will determine whether he died by suicide or was shot by police during the confrontation.The board of directors for the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents the LAPD’s rank-and-file, in a statement Thursday said the three officers are “on the path to a full physical recovery.”“Although we believe they will recover physically, each of these officers will live with the memory of almost losing their lives at the hands of a wanted fugitive in a hail of gunfire,...

Biden to visit Canada this month to discuss defense, trade

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will visit Canada later this month, the White House announced on Thursday, where he’ll address the country’s parliament and meet with Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau.A key point on the agenda will be modernizing the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which monitors the skies above the continent. The defense partnership was in the spotlight recently when NORAD tracked a suspected Chinese spy balloon that passed over the two countries before being shot down over the coast of South Carolina.A U.S. fighter jet later shot down an unidentified flying object in Canadian airspace.White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden will be joined by first lady Jill Biden and they’ll spend March 23 and 24 in Ottawa. She said the trip “will reaffirm the United States’ commitment to the U.S.-Canada partnership and promote our shared security, shared prosperity, and shared values.”Biden and Trudeau plan to discuss the ong...

S&P/TSX composite falls more than 250 points Thursday, U.S. markets slide

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:50 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index fell more than one per cent Thursday with weakness in financials, industrials and telecom helping bring the market down.The S&P/TSX composite index was down 259.81 points at 20,086.72.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 543.54 points, or 1.7 per cent, at 32,254.86. The S&P 500 index was down 73.69 points, or 1.9 per cent, at 3,918.32, while the Nasdaq composite was down 237.65 points, or 2.1 per cent, at 11,338.35.The Canadian dollar traded for 72.52 cents US compared with 72.54 cents US on Wednesday.The April crude contract was down 94 cents at US$75.72 per barrel and the April natural gas contract was down a penny at US$2.54 per mmBTU.The April gold contract was up US$16.00 at US$1,834.60 an ounce and the May copper contract was up a penny at US$4.04 a pound.This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 9, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD=X)The Canadian Press

U.S. President Joe Biden’s long-awaited Canada visit to happen March 23-24

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:50 GMT

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to Ottawa on March 23 to meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Canadian soil, his first visit north of the border since taking the oath of office in 2021. The White House said the president and his wife Jill Biden will spend two days in Canada, although a detailed itinerary has not yet been released.The two leaders will discuss an ongoing upgrade of the jointly led Norad continental defence system, which came under heavy scrutiny last month following the discovery of a Chinese surveillance balloon over U.S. and Canadian airspace. They will also discuss how to fortify shared supply chains, combat climate change and “accelerate the clean energy transition,” the White House said in a statement. Biden will also address a joint session of Parliament “to highlight the importance of the United States-Canada bilateral relationship.”A visit to Canada is customarily one of a new U.S. president’s first foreign...

Deepening worries about high rates send Wall Street lower

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:50 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks stumbled on Wall Street Thursday and added to the week’s losses as markets remain anxious about the prospect of more aggressive action by the Federal Reserve to fight inflation.Major indexes started the day higher and gradually lost ground until they fell sharply in late trading. The S&P 500 fell 73.69 points, or 1.8% to 3,918.32. It marked the second-worst loss of the year for the benchmark index and further eroded gains made throughout January to kick off the year.The sharp slide, which sank 95% of stocks in the S&P 500, was particularly hard on banks. The S&P 500’s financial sector slumped 4.1%.SVB Financial Group lost 60% of its value after announcing plans to raise up to $1.75 billion in order to strengthen its position amid concerns about higher interest rates and the economy. Bank of America, Citigroup and other big banks fell sharply.The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 543.54 points, or 1.7% to 32,254.86 and the Nasdaq fell 237.65 points,...

Railroad CEO ‘sorry,’ but avoids specifics at Senate hearing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Norfolk Southern’s CEO earnestly apologized before Congress on Thursday for last month’s fiery hazardous materials train derailment on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border and pledged millions of dollars to help the local town recover. But he stopped short of fully endorsing tougher safety regulations or specific commitments to pay for long-term health and economic harm. In a packed Senate hearing, CEO Alan Shaw said his railroad firmly supports the goal of improving rail safety, but he also defended his company’s record. He was questioned closely by both Democrats and Republicans about specific commitments to pay for long-term health and economic harm — and about the decision making that led to the release and burn of toxic vinyl chloride from five tanker cars — as well as the company’s commitment to safety and helping the people of East Palestine, Ohio.“I’m terribly sorry for the impact this derailment has had on the folks of that community,” Shaw...

Reports: Several dead in shooting in German city of Hamburg

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:50 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Several people were killed in a shooting Thursday evening in the northern German city of Hamburg, according to local media reports.The German news agency dpa said “several” people were dead and some injured, but didn’t give precise figures. Police said on Twitter that a large operation was under way in the city’s Alsterdorf district.Further details on what happened weren’t immediately available. Berlin, The Associated Press

Police: Extremists kill 25 fishermen in northeast Nigeria

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:50 GMT

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Islamic extremists killed at least 25 fishermen during an attack in northeastern Nigeria’s Borno state, the police told The Associated Press on Thursday,The rebels attacked the fishermen in the remote Mukdolo village of Borno where the years-long extremist violence is concentrated, said the local police chief Abdu Umar. Some of the bodies in the Wednesday attack were recovered and buried on Thursday, he said.“There is no single human being in that place because it has been abandoned but the villagers from Dikwa go there to fish. Unfortunately, this time, Boko Haram (extremists) surrounded the place and killed 25 of them and nine escaped,” the police chief said of the attack. Locals reported more than 30 killed in the attack.Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and largest economy, continues to grapple with a 14-year-old insurgency in the northeast by Islamic extremist rebels of Boko Haram and its offshoot, the Islamic State West Africa Province. Th...